Expeditious
by Grooms.BreAnn
Summary: Before. Bella Swan is a normal college student walking home from the library when she's attacked by someone or something. After. Her whole life changes in an instant.
1. Chapter 1

I walked down the damp steps, out onto the sidewalk, where I pulled my coat tighter around me. It was a dark night that late in December. I was leaving the OUG library, walking a little less than two blocks back to my apartment. I was living in my own, had been for 3 years, ever since I moved to Seattle.

After getting accepted to the University of Washington, I left my Dad and Forks to venture out on my own.

I was Christmas shopping earlier that day, which took way longer than it should have. I needed something for Jake. Mom was so easy to shop for, and I had Phil covered with something sports related, but always got stuck for what to get Jake.

I had spent a majority of the day wandering around shops, I didn't get to the library until almost 5 p.m., needing to do some major studying for a psych test. Which was the reason I found myself walking across Parrington Lawn at 10 o'clock at night. It was a shortcut back to the Russell Hall apartments.

The path lights were flickering as I walked through the trees. Parrington Lawn was on the North West side of campus, it was a slightly wooded park with pathways cutting across. An unthreatening place in most respects, though walking alone at night made the scene feel much more sinister.

I was just about half way across when I heard someone behind me walking, the heel of their shoe echoed off the trees each time they stepped. I tried to ignore the rise in my heart rate, pulling my coat tighter and picking up my pace. As I began to speed up, so did the sound of the heel hit the pavement behind me.

I reached into my bag to pull out my keys, hoping the 5-year-old mace would still work. I could see my apartment building just ahead, I sighed in relief. I was just about to put away my mace, when suddenly my world went black.

As I came to, everything came spinning back into my vision. My head pounded and my body ached everywhere. I took a moment to take in my surroundings. I was on a bed; my coat and sweater had been removed and I lay in just my tank top. My arms and legs bound to a grime covered mattress that was soaked in a wetness, I really and truly did not want to know the origin of.

My heart was pounding and my head was bleeding. The world spun once again as I tried to get my bearings.

I closed my eyes hard and counted to five. My pulse reaching a concerning rate. I begged myself not to slip into an uncontrollable panic. If I could manage to stay calm, I may think of a way out of this.

Opening my eyes again I blinked up at a harsh, industrial light hanging just to the side of the bed on the left. Turning my gaze to my right, I saw a concrete wall. My bed was pushed up against it, I could just put my fingertips on it from where my hands were strapped down. The wall was freezing cold and slightly damp.

Glancing around the room I saw it was entirely empty except for a metal door that was closed. The one fluorescent light above cast dark shadows in the corners of the room, that I strained my eyes to see in.

I was praying for a way out. Looking down to try and see what was binding me to the bed I saw the shining glint of handcuffs. I sighed in relief, Charlie had taught me years ago how to slip out of these should the need ever arise.

I began to wiggle my fist back and forth. The cuffs making of horrible scraping sound on the rusty metal bed frame.

I cringed, hoping like hell no one heard. I stopped for a moment to listen for noises before trying to slip the cuffs. I had managed to get my right hand free before I heard a chuckle from the dark corner of the room.

I shot up from my position laying down, my heart went into overdrive.

"Careful not to get too excited, I'd hate for the party to end before it even starts." I heard a voice from the corner of the room, though no one had stepped forward to claim it as theirs.

I was desperately trying to free my left hand from the cuffs, my feet were still strapped down but if he came near me at least I had my hands. He wouldn't be able to hold me down and do anything to me, unless there was someone else in the room that I couldn't see.

That thought brought on an entirely new wave of imagined horrors and a terrible rise in my panic level.

"Tsk tsk Bella," the man said stepping out of the shadow allowing me to get a view of his face for the first time.

Rather than turn away I stared hard at the man in front of me. Memorizing his features, he had long blond hair, almost as long as mine. It was loosely tied at the nap of his neck with an elastic. His skin looked almost translucently pale in the harsh lighting, paler than my own, which was saying something.

As he got closer, his features became clearer, his sculpted jaw line sticking out roughly from his skin. HIs thin lips were stretched into a tight flat line across his face. Reaching his eyes, I finally noticed their stark color.

Bright red.

He must have been wearing contacts or something, his eyes almost looked fake.

Oh geez, some satanic worshipping cult probably kidnapped me, performing a sacrifice on a virgin, so they wouldn't have to pay taxes or something.

He took another step towards me making me wish the room was bigger.

My left hand was still secured in the cuff attached to the bed, I wiggled my hand in vain, hoping to slip it without causing too much noise. It was clear this man was, and had been watching me, seeing as he knew not only my name but my nickname.

I was desperately trying not to think about the fact that my feet were still attached to the bed so there was no way I was getting out with him in the room. He had to leave at some point in time to eat or go to the bathroom. Discuss the virgin's sacrifice and whatnot.

I just had to distract him before he did whatever it was he wanted to do to me alone in this room.

"How long have you been following me?" I asked hoping my voice didn't shake too horribly.

"What makes you think you've been followed?" he asked seeming genuinely interested in my response.

"You know my name for one thing." I deadpanned.

"Well I could have gotten that off your ID, we do have all of your belongings. Or hey, maybe a read your mind," he said with a twisted smile leaning towards me.

"The name on my ID is Isabella. You called me Bella," I countered.

"Very good," he said looking more pleased that I wanted him to. "So how long do you think we've been following you?" he asked, letting me know there was at least one other person in on this.

"That I can't tell you, but you've been planning this for a while. You've got a windowless room with a bed that I'm guessing is secluded with how quiet it's been. I know Seattle well, not a lot of places like this out of the way. That is...unless we're in the Industrial District?" I asked finally figuring out where they must have taken me, though how they got me from Northeast Seattle to the Industrial District I had no idea. I didn't even know how long I had been here.

"I'm guessing it's the West side too, right off Harbor Island," I said slightly smug.

"You're more intelligent than I thought you'd be. You'll make a very powerful being one day. The process takes about three days," he said flashing a sickening smile my way.

"What's your name?" I blurted out, ruefully trying to buy myself more time. Though more time in this situation didn't seem like an inviting get together.

I had no idea what 'process' he was referring to but I really didn't want him to be thinking about that.

He seemed taken aback for a flash of a second before composing himself.

"James," smiled down at me; suddenly his eyes flashed to the door, pausing for a moment on it. He snapped his head back to face me and faster than I could blink he was right in front of me, causing me jump, just enough to pull my left hand free.

Instantly, he was kneeling on the bed, and right in my face. His red eyes reflecting my terrified expression.

I balled up my fist just like Charlie and Jake had taught me, and punched James square in the jaw with everything I had. My fist connected and I froze, hearing a horrendous cracking sound in not only my knuckles but the back of my hand and in my arm.

I made a pathetic whimpering sound, the feeling in my right hand absolute agony. I pulled away from him cradling my hand against my chest, pressing my back against the cold, wet wall behind me.

I bit the inside of my cheek to stop from crying out, biting so hard I could taste the blood.

"I'm afraid we're going to have to speed this up." He snarled down at me, is nostrils flaring as he took in a deep breath. His bright red eyes gone completely, spare for a slight ring around his huge black pupils.

He reached out and grabbed the hand clutched to my chest jerking me towards him. I slammed into his rock-hard body, my hand crushed between us. I let out a gruesome snarling noise, like that of a wounded animal, pulling away from him.

He reached his hand around to wrench the hair away from my neck by the root. Surely pulling a good chunk of it out in the process. I ground my teeth together trying the think of anything but the pain, I feebly attempted to push against him but his frame was as solid as a wall. And the arm around me didn't even budge no matter how much weight I put against it.

He waits there, my head pulled to the side by the root of my hair, just waiting. He was holding his breath, his eyes towards the door waiting.

A sickening smirk slid onto his face, pulling his lip up to reveal gleaming porcelain teeth. Without warning he attached his mouth to my neck, and bit.

I felt a pain that was unlike anything I'd ever felt. I had broken several bones and had countless fractures but none of it compared to the agonizing sting of his bite. I felt the burning pain of it in my neck, starting at the skin but sinking lower through my muscle right down to the bone.

I tried to hold my scream for as long as I could, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing he'd caused it, but once the burning started to move down my spine and up to the back of my head; I let out a scream, making a sound I had never heard from myself. Starting high pitched but going deeper than I thought possible before being cut off completely as the burning reached my throat causing it to clench shut.

I would do anything to feel the pain of my crushed arm over this pain. Anything to not feel this agony that wouldn't stop creeping over my body.

Suddenly, the pressure on my neck was gone, a great burst of wind passed by my face blowing my hair back. I could feel the spots where he had taken the hair out with his merciless grip.

I felt myself collide with something solid, though I didn't feel anything break. I decided now was as good a time as any to open my eyes.

Blinking up, I saw a woman with long blonde hair looking down at me. I jumped, was this who James was working with?

"It's ok Bella, we're here to help. I'm going to help you, I promise everything will be ok," her voice got softer, my world slowly slipping to black. I had the briefest thoughts, that should could be an angel, which was odd seeing as I wasn't an overly religious person. Though, there was no way we were in heaven, the vicious fire that scorched my body told me that much.

I couldn't move, couldn't keep my eyes open. I had to hope I could trust this woman, she did get me away from James who seemed me be having a great time chewing on my neck.

As my world grew darker, the torment grew stronger. The burn had reached up to my nose, and all the way down to by breasts.

I felt a sharp hit in my left side and then air around my face again, I forced my eyes back open just in time to see James sprinting towards me.

I closed my eyes and thought of Charlie, I would finally get to see him again.


	2. Chapter 2

_Edward_

We had traveled on foot from our home in Forks to the overly populated city of Seattle. We were after someone, several someone's to be precise.

My family and I had just moved to Forks two years ago and already there was trouble because of us. Of course, the others didn't like to think of it that way.

The nomadic vampires that were wreaking havoc all over the city could be here for any number of reasons. It was just a happy little coincidence we were the closest vampires in almost 300 miles.

We first caught their scent much closer to home, just outside the Olympic National Park. That was six weeks ago, since then they've killed 10 people, with at least that many having gone missing. In Seattle alone.

Of course, the Seattle Police Department had no way of connecting the two, seeing as the 10 dead bodies had been mauled by a 'wolf', though no one had reported seeing a wild animal running through the city streets.

Of course, no one had, it wasn't an animal, far worse. It was one of us, we were terrible creatures really. So, consumed with thirst. Most never regain their lost humanity, this was true of the monsters we were hunting now.

Their group had started small, just three of them, but in a few short weeks they had raised the beginnings of a newborn army. Though they were getting sloppy, taking someone from a University. They were seen by the campus police,

Jasper theorized that they foresaw our attack, it seemed their leader had some military training once in his unnatural life. The blond-haired beast was talented, more so than some other vampires.

He was a tracker, that much I could get from his thoughts. He seemed to have a target in mind though it annoying appeared that he had an understanding of my gift Every time I got close enough to read him, his thoughts went wild. Scattered all over the place, at first, I thought he was mad but after a few encounters and him evading us each time he wasn't mad. He was doing what my siblings had learned to do when they wanted to keep me from knowing what was on their mind. Covering.

It was easy for a vampire to do, we had an endless recall. All they had to do was think of something, Alice would replay fashion runway shows in her head. Rose preferred to build engines, while Emmett chose constant porn often.

James' tactic was chaos. Complete and utter chaos, even with a vampire mind I couldn't sort any of it out.

As we approached the abandoned meat factory I passed a smell that made me stop in my tracks. Causing Rosalie to crash into me, making an echoing sound like boulders smacking into one another.

I had been smelling it for weeks. It was all over Seattle, it was human of course but the thing was, the smell didn't appeal to me. Well, in one way it didn't. The beast inside me didn't take notice, that is it didn't make me thirsty. Though it smelled better than anything I'd ever smelled before. Like flowers in the rain.

I had been perplexed by this scent, it should have driven me mad with thirst. It made most of my family, aside from Carlisle of course, hold their breath on occasion. Emmett joked that it was probably my soulmate though he didn't really feel that way. Carlisle on the other hand thought that was the most likely cause, causing me to lose my cool.

I'd stormed out of the house the second he thought it two weeks ago. It was completely ludicrous.

"Fuck Edward! Why don't you just call James and tell him we're here?! Maybe he'll invite us in!" Rose said in a low register, too quiet for the vampires inside the concrete building to hear.

"Edward?" Jasper asked, feeling the war waging inside of me.

That's when I saw her, in his mind. A girl, in her early 20's maybe, with warm brown hair that was sticking to her face from the moisture on the bed. James was hiding in the corner of the room watching my girl struggle with the restrains on the bed where she lay.

My girl? Woah, not ok. She's a human girl, that we are here to save, that I was going to save if it meant giving my life. I ran forward ignoring the cries of my family, and raced into the building.

James had spoken, letting my girl know he was there. She looked at him and I could feel the hate in her eyes coming through.

She had gotten one of the cuffs off her wrist, fuck yes!

I didn't normally cuss but for Bella I couldn't stop myself...Bella, that was her name, that's what he said. And I could see it then, unfolding in his head.

My vision went red. He had been watching her for weeks, she was his singer. He was going to kill her.

In some part of my mind I was fighting newborns, coming at me left and right but most of my attention was on Bella. I small part of me realized Jasper and Emmett were on either side of me and I made a vague note not to kill them should they get in my way.

I was feral at this point. Only able to think of getting to Bella. Isabella was her full name, and I was quickly learning she was amazingly strong.

James could clearly see her trying to get her hand out of the second cuff, he wanted her to. He wanted her to fight him, he was going to take pleasure in it. In showing it to me. He knew we were here. He knew we would come.

He was so sure the newborns would hold us up for a while but I could feel myself getting closer to Bella. I could hear her heartbeat now, hammering in her chest. She was terrified but she was doing her best not to let on.

She amazed both James and myself by correctly guessing her location. She was smart, and intuitive, and James was sick and on his way to being dead. Permanently.

Suddenly, I realized, I couldn't read Bella's mind! What had James done to her?!

The thought only caused me to charge forward faster and harder.

Bella was trying to distract James, asking him questions, good girl. Just hold him off till I get there, I promise I will.

I had just gotten through the last patch of newborns when I saw it, he was next to her. He was going to bite her. Not just bit her, he wanted her to turn. That filthy fuck wanted Bella to be his. No way in hell I was going to let that happen.

Just was James was going to go in for a kiss Bella shocked both of us by punching his right in the face with her tiny fist. The strength of his jaw cracked several bones in her body. I heard Emmett and Jasper both curse out at the sound of it, we were getting close but there were a lot of fucking hallways.

Bella was biting the inside of her mouth to keep from making noise, hard enough to draw blood that James could smell. That's when I realized, James was going to turn her. That had been the plan all along.

God Bella! Make a noise! I need to find you!

Bella started to struggle, making little progress due to James' inhuman strength. Bella was terrified and James was aroused.

That's when it happened, I saw it in slow motion. He's pulled her hair aside and bitten down on Bella's neck and began to drink.

Rose caught Bella, her heart pounding causing the venom to spread faster. It was too late, she had lost too much blood. She was turning.


	3. Chapter 3

_Bella_

Fire, everywhere. Hell, it had to be hell, or Florida. Both are equally as humid.

Why was I here? I couldn't figure it out, as the flames licked by heels and wrapped back up my leg like a cat.

I couldn't understand how I had ended up in hell, seriously. I hadn't even had sex yet. A virgin! How did a virgin end up in hell?

Was it because I got murdered? By James...he had murdered me. Sent me to this place of darkness and flames, which was rather contradictory.

Flames, meaning fire, normally entailed light, but not here. Not in hell. Flames in hell meant heat, and pain, torture, but not light. I missed light. But mostly I missed not being in pain.

I was lost in this world, losing all meaning of time. There was nothing but flames for hours and hours, maybe even days, until I heard it.

A sound! There had been nothing here in the darkness, nothing but flames. Even they didn't have sound, the comforting crackle of a fire, even if that fire was burning off all your flesh. I still wanted my damn fire sounds!

The sound I heard was better, much better than the crackle of a flame. It was music. Though I couldn't tell what kind of music, or even the instrument it was being played on. But it didn't matter, there was music. Something there besides my burning skin.

I listened hard, trying to move as little as possible. I wanted to hear better, needing to soak up every note, it was a way from the pain.

Soon I had settled completely, relishing in the feel of the music running over my like water. Damping the flames even if it was minutely.

I had been still for less than a minute when the music abruptly stopped, I twitched slightly irritated my sooth was gone. My irritated twitch caused a ghastly pain to irrupt in its wake. Fire danced across my limbs making me scream. It was almost worse than before

As the pain subsided, I could hear the music again, though I didn't think it was the same song, it was still nice. It continued as I stilled the pain leaving the tips of my toes for the first time in what had to be days. I couldn't move my extremities. As the pain left them, it began to gather towards my torso.

The fire roared in my chest but I was frozen unable to even scream out as the worst pain I could imagine shook my body, taking everything, I had. All I could do was clench my fists as the pain took over all my senses.

Fire shot through my lungs, exploding taking all the breath I had. After it took my breath, the pain stopped. The only place the fire still burned was my heart, which was beating in a painfully erratic way.

It pounded inside of my chest, trying it's best to break my ribs on its way out of my body. The fire turned to pins. Pins dipped in acid being shoved into my heart repeatedly with each beat.

It was torment, as my heartbeat slowed the pins moved throughout my body rapidly. Bringing me to a level of hysteria I had never reached before. I wanted nothing more than for it to end, everything.

I couldn't handle this pain, I begged for death.

Just as I thought the pain would drive me absolutely mad, it dissipated. Almost instantaneously. I froze completely, petrified any movement would bring back the pain. My breath hadn't returned, but neither had the pain. I was sure I had died, when I heard it.

"Why isn't she moving?" I heard a slightly panicked, and more than a little loud voice ask. The voice was familiar, like something I'd heard in a dream.

"Give her a moment, Rose." I heard a steady masculine voice say from another side of the room, at a decidedly lower volume.

The jarring realization that I wasn't alone in the room made me snap my eyes open. At first my vision was flooded with light. Startlingly bright, but it only took my eyes a millisecond to adjust.

A slightly dusty lamp hung right above me. I put a hand down to try and guess what I was laying on. It was a bare flat surface that slid smoothly across my fingertips. It wasn't a bed, maybe a table?

I heard and felt someone take a step toward me, but it was more like a huge burst of sound right next to me, causing me to jump. When I did jump the force of it shot me off the bed and across the room.

I fully expected to find myself on the ground after leaping from the table, but instead was crouching on all fours in the corner of the room. Scared and more than a bit confused my gaze flitted around the room, taking everything in.

I could see 5 others in the room with me, most of them giving me a rather wide berth. I passed over their faces quickly, taking in their startling beauty. There were 3 men and 2 women, they all seemed to be around my age, give or take a few years.

It was then that I realized I had been holding my breath ever since the fire left my body, and I was fine. I didn't feel the need to breath at all, I didn't feel light headed, I also didn't feel a heartbeat.

I lifted my hand to the left side of my chest where my heart should be beating but felt nothing but the fabric of my shirt.

"Bella...it's alright," one of the men said taking a half step towards me. My eyes snapped to his face, he had blond hair that was neat and styled back. His eyes a brash golden color around his pupils. His skin was pale, extremely pale. Just like James.

The thought made a noise come out of my mouth that sounded more animalistic that it should have.

"Don't worry, we aren't going to hurt you." someone said, trying to comfort me. This time the voice came from the person closest to me. A stunningly beautiful girl, with almost white blonde hair took another step towards me, causing me to push my back against the wall I was closest to.

The force of my actions caused the wall behind me to shake and dust to fall from the ceiling.

"Do you remember me?" The blonde girl asked me, this time not taking another step. I looked at her face trying to recall the familiarity, when it clicked.

"You were there, in that room with James," I accused. As the words came out of my mouth I was totally shocked as my own voice didn't sound right to my own ears. What in the holy hell was going on?

"We came to help you Bella, to get you away from James," the blonde girl tried to explain, though the guilty look on her face wasn't doing wonders for my confidence in her statement.

I knew something was wrong, very wrong. I didn't feel right, well actually I felt great. Which I absolutely shouldn't have. I must have been out for days, laying on that table but my body didn't feel stiff or sore. I couldn't remember the last time I had eaten, though thinking of eating made my throat sting horribly. I must have been dehydrated.

I was about to ask for a glass of water, before realizing I would have no clue what was in there so I held my tongue. Keeping my back pressed to the wall, I rose from my crouching position to look everyone in the eye.

The blonde woman and man must have been related, their looks too similar to be a coincidence. The blond hair, the pale skin, golden eyes. I decided to take a better look at the other people in the room.

The two other men looked intimidating in very different ways. The man just behind the blonde-haired girl, who I was guessing was Rose, was unreasonably huge in the arms and chest. The rest of his frame was much the same, rippling with muscles, though his face seemed genuinely kind and concerned, surprising me.

There were two others standing just beyond the blond-haired man. Another man with blond hair, almost white like the girls. Maybe they were all related. His frame was much leaner than the other man but he was tall and looked at me like he was waiting for me to attack him.

There was a slight girl stood next to him with short, wild spiky hair the color of coconut skin. As I watched, she began to jump up and down on the balls of her feet, her hands clutched in front of her chest. Like she was trying to hold in her excitement.

I felt like I was on information overload, I had taken all of this in, in just a matter of seconds. Had they given me some sort of drug?

"What's going on?" I asked no one in particular.

"We'll explain everything Bella, but first, can you tell me what you remember?" the blond man asked calming putting me at ease just a bit.

"I remember everything, the room, James, him biting me, you coming in," I said pointing to the blond girl that was tucked into the giant's side.

"Yes, all of that did happen. I'm so sorry for what you had to go through," he said moving closer to me ever so slightly.

"Who are you?" I demanded, he needed to start explaining a lot quicker.

"She's getting restless," the blond man in the back whispered to the one in front. No shit Sherlock.

"My name is Carlisle, this is my family," he explained waving his hand to the others in the room. I thought they were related. "This is Alice and Jasper," he said pointing to the couple behind him. "And Emmett and Rosalie," he introduced me to the blonde girl and the giant.

"Edward and my wife Esme are also in the house," he motioned to the wall behind me. I pushed away from the wall slowly, turning to look at it.

"You're in our home in Forks, Washington," at that my head snapped to his face.

"We're in Forks?" I asked shocked.

"Are you familiar with it?" Carlisle asked looking pleased. "It's a rather small town," he commented.

"Yea...I went to high school here," I told them quietly, not sure how much about myself I should give away. I wasn't entirely sure they could be trusted but I was more comfortable with them than I had been with James.

The others in the room seemed to be surprised by my statement, which I understood. It really was a puny town; my graduating class was only 75 people. It was a bit strange that these people I met in Seattle a couple hundred miles away, were from my hometown.

"Why am I in Forks?" I asked, taking advantage of everyone's stunned silence. No one spoke for a second, instead they glanced around at each other.

"It's the safest place we could think of," the little one in the back piped in, Alice, my gaze hastily moving to her face. The man next to her, Jasper, turned to her, whispering to her admonishingly. She looked down, a guilty look splashed across her face.

Everything was too much, there were too many smells, and sounds.

"Why is everything so much?"

"What do you mean?"

"The smells, the sounds, I can hear people breathing in the next room,"

"They're actually upstairs," Jasper said. There was a pause before he spoke up again, "what do you remember from the past few days?"

"I remember it fucking hurt," I said heedlessly, rolling my eyes quickly. This caused the big one, Emmett to burst out laughing, which of course caused me to jump back pushing myself into the corner.

"Emmett," Jasper hissed, then I saw something I couldn't fully comprehend. A dark green mist sprouted from Jasper's chest and quickly made its way over to Emmett. The second the mist touched him it surrounded him completely, and his body immediately stopped shaking with laughter.

"What in the hell was that?" I yelled, looking at Jasper in an accusatory tone. Jasper looked at me confused, did no one else see that? Was I on drugs? What the hell was happening?!

"Bella...could, did you see that?" Jasper asked looking as shocked as I felt.

Now I was confused and freaking out, this was too much, I was either on drugs or this world was a lot weirder place than I was ready to accept.

A blue mist began to appear from Jasper's chest, this time making its way over to me. I was not up for whatever was in that blue misty crap. I pushed myself further into the wall, so much that I could feel it crumbling around me. How I was managing to live through this, and absolutely pain free I might add, I had no idea. I chose to put that thought on hold for a moment.

As the blue mist got closer my panic began to rise, as did my anger, to an uncomfortable level. I didn't know what this man was but whatever he was trying to do to me, I didn't consent.

My eyes flashed to his, mine full of rage, his full of astonishment. The mist crept closer and closer but stopped short just a foot from me, as if it hit a wall. The mist came up against the wall, until I realized, it wasn't a wall, but a bubble. A bubble around me!

"Holy shit," Jasper muttered, the mist evaporating to nothing.

"What is it son?" Carlisle turned his back to me and faced Jasper completely.

"She's a shield!" Alice exclaimed with a little jump.

Suddenly, I could hear footsteps outside, but it felt like a pounding drum in my ear. I sprinted to the other side of the room closer to Rosalie, who I reached out for, much to her, and my, surprise. The footsteps stopped just outside the door and I pulled Rosalie next to me, leaving Emmett standing a few feet away.

"Edward!" Jasper hissed, but just barely, his lips almost not moving. "I told you if you choose to stay out it would be for everything," he said so quickly and quietly that had I taken a breath I probably wouldn't have caught it.

I could hear the person on the other side of the wall, Edward I assumed, I listened closely and I could hear the rustle of his shirt against him. When I heard him lift a hand and rest it on the doorknob, I began to panic.

Intensely unexpectedly, Emmett yelped out in pain and jumped away from Rosalie and me.

"What the hell?" I said totally shocked at Emmett's behavior.

"You shocked me!" he accused, rubbing his arm up and down.

"No, I didn't!" I squeaked back.

"It's your shield sweetie," Rosalie whispered beside me, pointing out just a couple feet in front of us. It took me a moment but then I began to make out a faint shimmer. Like the glare you see on the road when it's hot, but almost iridescent. It was pretty.

Realizing this is what caused Emmett to jump, I looked over at him apologetically.

"I'm so sorry, are you ok?" I asked, the shield dropping immediately.

"Don't worry Bells, takes a lot more than that to keep me away," he winked, but his playful nickname caused my heart to throb laboriously. I looked away from him, letting my hair fall into my face, feigning embarrassment.

"Please sit," Carlisle side waving to the chair. "I don't think I've properly introduced myself yet, I'm Carlisle Cullen, nice to meet you." He smiled extending his hand to me.

I looked at him for a moment, not expecting that before hastily shoving my hand into his with a force that should have probably knocked him off his chair. I pulled back quickly, feeling terrible for not being able to control myself.

The name Cullen struck a chord somewhere, though I couldn't quite place it.

"Bella Swan, nice to meet you too," I said not meeting his eyes. Suddenly, it was like the noise was sucked from the room, so I peeked up to find shocked expressions covering the faces in the room.

"What is it?" I asked looking around.

"Are you Charlie Swan's daughter?" Emmett burst out, looking at me wide eyed.

My hand curled into a fist on the table.

"You knew my father?" I asked, my voice cracking.

"We meet several months before his passing," Carlisle said eloquently. "He was a good man, great cop," he said sternly, looking almost emotional. If these people knew Charlie, and cared about him then they couldn't be bad.

"Are you a doctor?" I asked randomly though Carlisle looked extremely surprised but pleased.

"Why, yes I am. What made you say that?" he asked curiously.

"You talk about death well," I shrugged. That response earning me a snort/laugh from everyone in the room, that time only mildly scaring me.

"I suppose I should explain everything, I'm sure you have questions," he said. No shit, Sherlock.


End file.
